Mary McDonnell

Mary McDonnell, a two-time Oscar(r),-nominated actress, is most well known for her performances on screen in historical and modern roles. She also has a long list of acting roles on stage and screen. Mary Eileen McDonnell is a Pennsylvania-born actress. She was the daughter of Eileen (Mundy) who was an Irish-American computer consultant, and John McDonnell. Her birthplace was Ithaca, New York and graduated from Fredonia State University of New York. She then went to theatre school, and then was accepted into Long Wharf Theatre Company (East Coast). Her breakthrough film role was in Dances with Wolves (1990) by Kevin Costner. She played the character of "Stands with a Fist", a Sioux Indian-raised white woman. In the film, she earned her first Academy Award nomination. McDonnell was a part of the Lawrence Kasdan films Grand Canyon (1991), and Mumford (1999) alongside such veteran actors like Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier. She also played in Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996), starring Will Smith. Margin Call (2011), which was directed by Kevin Spacey, earned McDonnell the Robert Altman award at the 2012 Independent Spirit Awards. On the smaller screen, McDonnell starred in four seasons on the Syfy Network's award-winning show Battlestar Galactica (2004) in her critically acclaimed performance as President Laura Roslin. Her frequent guest appearance as host on the popular television show ER (1994) was rewarded with an Emmy nomination. TNT's hit drama show Major Crimes (2012) stars her as Captain Sharon Raydor. It is McDonnell's second show and she was nominated for a primetime Emmy(r). As a paraplegic soap-opera star in John Sayles’s critically acclaimed film Passion Fish (1992), she received a Best Actress Academy Award(r), nomination, and a Golden Globe nomination.